Author: Mia

  • Aloha Anniversary

    Aloha Anniversary

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    Twenty years ago I promised to have and to hold this handsome fella. Score! We were young and madly in love, and after the officiant proclaimed “you may kiss your bride” I tried to steal a second smooch, to the amusement of the entire congregation. Two decades later, I’m still a smitten-kitten and always eager…

  • Camp Gramps

    Camp Gramps

    For Christmas, my sisters and I gifted our folks a preplanned Memorial weekend trip camping together with all of our husbands, kids, and dogs. We originally booked the lakeside campground that our family’s frequented for generations (my grandparents took their honeymoon there and both sets of THEIR parents famously crashed it), but an unforeseen infestation…

  • The (real e)State of Things

    The (real e)State of Things

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    The summer before middle school, I moved with my mom into one of the first homes built in a new subdivision. Our house was surrounded by bare lots, for-sale signs, a constant flux of construction crews, and homes in various phases of completion. Without invitation, I helped myself to a tour of every interior after…

  • Sweet (& Sour) Sixteen

    Sweet (& Sour) Sixteen

    Our sweet (and sometimes sour) Firstborn went and turned SIXTEEN years old. We spent the weekend celebrating her. She and her best buds have an informal Homeschool Fight Club (but the first thing about Homeschool Fight Club is you don’t talk about Homeschool Fight Club…), so she opted to spend her day shooting said pals…

  • Too Cool for School

    Too Cool for School

    It’s been too long since we’ve had a proper photo dump; my poor iPhone is filled to the brim with snapshots. Homeschool keeps our calendars full and our vehicles exercised, and I enjoy documenting it all. Consider this blog our virtual scrapbook, our yearbooks of sorts– almost even a transcript! Thank you, God, for these…

  • Resurrection Day

    Resurrection Day

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    Resurrection Day is the holiest day of our liturgical year, Easter Sunday being the metaphorical Superbowl of our faith. We observed less-than-traditionally this year, skipping in-person church service for a simple, insulated celebration. Popping first by our favorite flowering cherry trees downtown at the capitol to behold their brief blossom, we then headed to my…

  • Ocean’s Six

    Ocean’s Six

    Husband and I were recently blessed with a kid-free weekend under the bright lights of Las Vegas, alongside my sisters and their husbands. None of us gamblers, our wolfpack of six sipped and supped our way through the labrinyth of themed casinos, trudging twenty-two thousand steps a day sightseeing. Husband was our unofficial tour-guide, as…

  • Year of the Ox (Chinese New Year)

    Year of the Ox (Chinese New Year)

    Last weekend we rang in Lunar New Year, Chinese-style: ’round the table with a great big family feast. Threat of freezing rain caused several guests to cancel last minute, and our power to go out mid-meal, but we had a memorable and tasty celebration nonetheless. Leaning into this year’s zodiac animal –the Ox– Husband woke…

  • Keeping it Real (Estate)

    Keeping it Real (Estate)

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    A wee peekaboo into my work-life, lately… storybook-style.